Maine properties added to National Register of Historic Places

The Holden Town Hall is one of three properties that have been entered in the National Register of Historic Places, according to the director of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission.

The following Maine properties have been entered in the National Register of Historic Places, according to Earle G. Shettleworth Jr., director of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission.

These properties have been documented, evaluated and deemed worthy of preservation as part of the nation’s cultural heritage:

— The Dixmont Town House was built in 1836 to serve as the center of governmental functions in Dixmont. Prior to the mid-19th century, governmental functions in Maine towns often were held in town-built meeting houses that also served as churches. The Dixmont Town House was chosen by the National Register as an example of the earliest incarnation of purely secular municipal buildings in Maine, and also for its association with the political and governmental history of the town.

— Erected by the town of Holden in 1873, the Holden Town Hall served as the site of the municipality’s governmental functions until the mid-1960s, and as a meeting hall for the local grange until 1995. It also has been the site of numerous receptions and funerals, dinners, plays and presentations. This one-and-one-half story wood frame structure exhibits Gothic revival, Italianate and stick-style details. The National Register chose it for its long-term significance with the social, recreational and governmental history of the town, and also for its local architectural importance.

— The Village School in Unity is a one-story, three-room, eclectically-styled schoolhouse. Built in 1898 in order to consolidate smaller, dispersed districts, it remained the largest grade school in the town until 1953, when a new school was constructed to alleviate overcrowding. The National Register chose it for its local educational significance and as an example of an intermediate step between the often autonomous 19th century district system and the fully consolidated mid-20th century system. It also is architecturally significant as an example of a three-room schoolhouse constructed following the State of Maine Educational Department’s recommendations for school buildings.